Aurore, l’enfant martyre. Essai sur la violence faite aux enfants

Ressortir de la petite histoire récente du Québec rural ce drame-symbole de l'enfant martyre que fut Aurore Gagnon : cela n'est pas sans provoquer, dans une perspective systémique en tout cas, des réflexions et une mise en perspective qui vont bien au-delà des généralités auxquelles ce genre de récit donne habituellement lieu. On voit bien, par exemple, que le comportement de la belle-mère d'Aurore, pour aberrant qu'il soit, n'en est pas moins surdéterminé par un ensemble de circonstances du milieu. Les conditions sociales d'aujourd'hui ne ressemblent guère à celles de naguère ; il n'empêche que, certains facteurs étant réunis, les enfants, qui sont pourtant notre bien le plus précieux, continuent d'être en danger en présence de leurs propres parents.This article draws on the sad story of Aurore Gagnon, a battered child raised in rural Québec and whose turmoil was dramatized on film. By elaborating on this symbol, the author is able to generate, at least in a systemic perspective, a number of issues and outlooks that go far beyond the generalities usually associated with this tale. For instance, there is ample evidence showing that the behaviour of Aurore's stepmother, aberrant as it may be, is largely caused by a set of environmental circumstances. Of course, today's social conditions hardly resemble those of the past. Yet, given the conjunctions of certain factors, children, who are nevertheless our most valuable asset, continue to be in danger in the presence of their very own parents

The Emerging Scholarly Brain

It is now a commonplace observation that human society is becoming a coherent super-organism, and that the information infrastructure forms its emerging brain. Perhaps, as the underlying technologies are likely to become billions of times more powerful than those we have today, we could say that we are now building the lizard brain for the future organism.Comment: to appear in Future Professional Communication in Astronomy-II (FPCA-II) editors A. Heck and A. Accomazz

Bayesian modeling of recombination events in bacterial populations

Background: We consider the discovery of recombinant segments jointly with their origins within multilocus DNA sequences from bacteria representing heterogeneous populations of fairly closely related species. The currently available methods for recombination detection capable of probabilistic characterization of uncertainty have a limited applicability in practice as the number of strains in a data set increases. Results: We introduce a Bayesian spatial structural model representing the continuum of origins over sites within the observed sequences, including a probabilistic characterization of uncertainty related to the origin of any particular site. To enable a statistically accurate and practically feasible approach to the analysis of large-scale data sets representing a single genus, we have developed a novel software tool (BRAT, Bayesian Recombination Tracker) implementing the model and the corresponding learning algorithm, which is capable of identifying the posterior optimal structure and to estimate the marginal posterior probabilities of putative origins over the sites. Conclusion: A multitude of challenging simulation scenarios and an analysis of real data from seven housekeeping genes of 120 strains of genus Burkholderia are used to illustrate the possibilities offered by our approach. The software is freely available for download at URL http://web.abo.fi/fak/ mnf//mate/jc/software/brat.html

Grid-texture mechanisms in human vision:contrast detection of regular sparse micro-patterns requires specialist templates

Previous work has shown that human vision performs spatial integration of luminance contrast energy, where signals are squared and summed (with internal noise) over area at detection threshold. We tested that model here in an experiment using arrays of micro-pattern textures that varied in overall stimulus area and sparseness of their target elements, where the contrast of each element was normalised for sensitivity across the visual field. We found a power-law improvement in performance with stimulus area, and a decrease in sensitivity with sparseness. While the contrast integrator model performed well when target elements constituted 50–100% of the target area (replicating previous results), observers outperformed the model when texture elements were sparser than this. This result required the inclusion of further templates in our model, selective for grids of various regular texture densities. By assuming a MAX operation across these noisy mechanisms the model also accounted for the increase in the slope of the psychometric function that occurred as texture density decreased. Thus, for the first time, mechanisms that are selective for texture density have been revealed at contrast detection threshold. We suggest that these mechanisms have a role to play in the perception of visual textures

Longitudinal Fibular Deficiency: A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Lower Limb Function of Children and Young People with That of Unaffected Peers

Longitudinal fibular deficiency (LFD), or fibular hemimelia, is congenital partial or complete absence of the fibula. We aimed to compare the lower limb function of children and young people with LFD to that of unaffected peers. A cross-sectional study of Australian children and young people with LFD, and of unaffected peers, was undertaken. Twenty-three (12 males) children and young people with LFD (74% of those eligible) and 213 unaffected peers, all aged 7–21 years were subject to the Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS/KOOS-Child) and the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT/CAIT-Youth). Linear regression models compared affected children and young people to unaffected peers. Participants with LFD scored lower in both outcomes (adjusted p < 0.05). The difference between participants with LFD and unaffected peers was significantly greater among younger participants than older participants for KOOS activities and sports domain scores (adjusted p ≤ 0.01). Differences in the other KOOS domains (pain/symptoms/quality of life) and ankle function (CAIT scores) were not affected by age (adjusted p ≥ 0.08). Children and young people with LFD on average report reduced lower limb function compared to unaffected peers. Knee-related activities and sports domains appear to be worse in younger children with LFD, and scores in these domains become closer to those of unaffected peers as they become older

A New Vaccine for Tuberculosis: The Challenges of Development and Deployment

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s leading causes of death due to infection and efforts to control TB would be substantially aided by the availability of an improved TB vaccine. There are currently nine new TB vaccines in clinical development, and the first efficacy trials are due to commence in 2009. There are many complex ethical issues which arise at all stages of TB vaccine development, from the need to conduct trials in developing countries to informed consent and the process of ethical review. While it is important that these issues are discussed, it may also be timely to consider the challenges which may arise if a vaccine in clinical development proves to be highly effective. We examine a number of scenarios where decisions on the deployment of a new TB vaccine may impact on the rights and liberty of the individual

Delayed ethylene glycol poisoning presenting with abdominal pain and multiple cranial and peripheral neuropathies: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Ethylene glycol poisoning may pose diagnostic difficulties if the history of ingestion is not volunteered, or if the presentation is delayed. This is because the biochemical features of high anion-gap metabolic acidosis and an osmolar gap resolve within 24 to 72 hours as the ethylene glycol is metabolized to toxic metabolites. This case illustrates the less well-known clinical features of delayed ethylene glycol poisoning, including multiple cranial and peripheral neuropathies, and the clinical findings which may point towards this diagnosis in the absence of a history of ingestion.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 53-year-old Afro-Caribbean man presented with vomiting, abdominal pain and oliguria, and was found to have acute renal failure requiring emergency hemofiltration, and raised inflammatory markers. Computed tomography imaging of the abdomen revealed the appearance of bilateral pyelonephritis, however he failed to improve with broad-spectrum antibiotics, and subsequently developed multiple cranial neuropathies and increasing obtundation, necessitating intubation and ventilation. Computed tomography of the brain showed no focal lesions, and a lumbar puncture revealed a raised cerebrospinal fluid opening pressure and cyto-albuminological dissociation. Nerve conduction studies revealed a sensorimotor radiculoneuropathy mimicking a Guillain-Barre type lesion with an atypical distribution. It was only about two weeks after presentation that the history of ethylene glycol ingestion one week before presentation was confirmed. He had a slow recovery on the intensive care unit, requiring renal replacement therapy for eight weeks, and complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome, neuropathic pain and a slow neurological recovery requiring prolonged rehabilitation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although neuropathy as a result of ethylene glycol poisoning has been described in a few case reports, all of these were in the context of a known history of ingestion. As the diagnosis may well be obscured if the history of ingestion is not elucidated, it is important to be aware of this possibility especially if presentation is delayed.</p

Quantitative cross-species extrapolation between humans and fish: The case of the anti-depressant fluoxetine

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Fish are an important model for the pharmacological and toxicological characterization of human pharmaceuticals in drug discovery, drug safety assessment and environmental toxicology. However, do fish respond to pharmaceuticals as humans do? To address this question, we provide a novel quantitative cross-species extrapolation approach (qCSE) based on the hypothesis that similar plasma concentrations of pharmaceuticals cause comparable target-mediated effects in both humans and fish at similar level of biological organization (Read-Across Hypothesis). To validate this hypothesis, the behavioural effects of the anti-depressant drug fluoxetine on the fish model fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) were used as test case. Fish were exposed for 28 days to a range of measured water concentrations of fluoxetine (0.1, 1.0, 8.0, 16, 32, 64 μg/L) to produce plasma concentrations below, equal and above the range of Human Therapeutic Plasma Concentrations (HTPCs). Fluoxetine and its metabolite, norfluoxetine, were quantified in the plasma of individual fish and linked to behavioural anxiety-related endpoints. The minimum drug plasma concentrations that elicited anxiolytic responses in fish were above the upper value of the HTPC range, whereas no effects were observed at plasma concentrations below the HTPCs. In vivo metabolism of fluoxetine in humans and fish was similar, and displayed bi-phasic concentration-dependent kinetics driven by the auto-inhibitory dynamics and saturation of the enzymes that convert fluoxetine into norfluoxetine. The sensitivity of fish to fluoxetine was not so dissimilar from that of patients affected by general anxiety disorders. These results represent the first direct evidence of measured internal dose response effect of a pharmaceutical in fish, hence validating the Read-Across hypothesis applied to fluoxetine. Overall, this study demonstrates that the qCSE approach, anchored to internal drug concentrations, is a powerful tool to guide the assessment of the sensitivity of fish to pharmaceuticals, and strengthens the translational power of the cross-species extrapolation

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have proven efficacy in the treatment of panic disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety disorder. Accumulating data shows that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment can also be efficacious in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. This review summarizes the findings of randomized controlled trials of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, examines the strengths and weaknesses of other therapeutic approaches and considers potential new treatments for patients with this chronic and disabling anxiety disorder